2 Oatmeal Recipes You Must Try!

I’ve never been an oatmeal lover but it’s one of those things I added into our families breakfast line up because of all the health benefits & then I fell in love!

In fact, oatmeal is one of our kids favorite breakfast! BUT not the microwave oatmeal from our childhood. 😜 As convenient as it is to pop a ready to go packet in the microwave…. I suggest throwing out those little packages and making it yourself! It’s not hard, it’s healthier and you can add your favorite fruits to add flavor without as much added sugars and unnecessary ingredients! 

Recently my husband asked me to find a good overnight oats recipe. Since it’s the texture of oatmeal I’m not a huge fan of I wasn’t sure how I would like the overnight oats but I’m here to tell you- it’s good!!! I’ve combined a few different recipes to find what we like best and I suggest you do the same! If you are following a macro diet you can easily create a “new recipe” in My Fitness Pal to get the exact macros. I suggest doing this for any recipe when you change the ingredients and/or brands from the original! Watch THIS VIDEO to see how to make a new recipe in MFP! 

Today I’m going to share how we make our oatmeal! Both on the stove top and our new favorite, over night oats! If you try either of these, make sure to tag me on social media and let me know how you like it!! I will also link the ingredients we use below, we try to find sugar free and clean ingredients as best as we can. Not only does it make the recipe a little more macro friendly…. It also taste better, IMO!

First: Stove Top Oatmeal

We follow the exact instructions on the bag! 2 parts water to 1 part cup of oatmeal.

We find one cup of oatmeal is plenty for our kids to share and if you have smaller kids you could probably split it between 3, possibly 4 kiddos!

So…. Turn on the stove and get 2 cups of water boiling! As soon as the water starts to boil, I add a pinch of salt and 1 cup of oats. Turn the stove down to low and set an alarm for 10 minutes! 10 is the magic number here, it's perfect every time! Once my alarm goes off I add in a tablespoon of coconut oil & 2 tablespoons of organic maple syrup. Please don't use fake syrup, I know real maple syrup is more expensive but if you are looking to eat healthier, this is a must. Fake syrup has awful ingredients....  corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, cellulose gum, caramel color, sodium benzoate, sorbic acid are just some of the ingredients in the fake stuff.

Mix all that up and I split it in bowls for our kids! From there we add fruit… our favorite is apples (honey crisp kept in the fridge is the best!) I cut the skin off, cut the apples up into small chunks, throw them in the bowl with a little bit of cinnamon sprinkled on top! Our kids also love frozen blueberries or fresh strawberries with this recipe! Easy peasy, huh?! A healthy breakfast without a ton of added sugar. Of course maple syrup is high in natural sugar, you could cut that down to one tablespoon or cut it out completely if you wanted! We like to use small amounts as a natural sweetener!

Now for the overnight oats:

Again, I combined a few different recipes to make this work for us. There are so many recipes out there! For this recipe, quality ingredients again are key. Try finding a jam that is sugar free or no sugar added and sugar free peanut butter! I know it can be overwhelming to read labels but if you will at least try to find condiments that have no added sugar or very little, you’ll be better off! I’ll link what brands we use below!

First make your oatmeal mixture:
1.5 cup Rolled Oats
2 cups Coconut Milk
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
2 tablespoons Chia Seeds
1 tablespoon Maple Syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon strawberry jam
Pinch of Salt

Also grab 2 small bowls….
In one of them measure out 3 tablespoons of peanut butter
& in the other 3 tablespoons of strawberry jam

And go ahead and cut up your strawberries. I use 10 ounces which is about 10-12 small-medium size strawberries. 

Grab 5 mason jars! (You could do more or less but I find 5 is just enough of a serving to keep us full and not over do it on the carbs!)

Now build your jars!
You are going to take the small bowls of PB & Jam and use a spoon to go around the inside of the jar. You will just have to eyeball this and try to make it as even as possible! Or if you REALLY wanted your macros perfect you could measure it. Once all jar have had jam & PB added around the inside, add your oatmeal mixture! You can eyeball it to make it even, use a measuring cup or weigh it! Just make sure to zero out your scale once you place the mason jar on top of it! I weighed ours and was able to get about 125 grams of oatmeal mixture in each jar. Once mixture has been added, add your strawberries (again you can weigh these to get exact macros) to the jars. I like to sprinkle about 1/4 teaspoon of PB fit on top for extra flavor!

These will stay good in the fridge for about a week but they never last that long at our house! Below is a link to the brands we use and here is YT video on how to make your own recipe on MFP!

All of these brands are easy to find where we live, we like how they taste and find the ingredients to be better… there may be even cleaner brands out there that we could order but again these are easy for us to grab at Publix, Target, Whole Foods, etc…

Oatmeal: https://amzn.to/3BgbPZL
*We like rolled oats the best. They are thinner than steel cut oats. Do NOT substitute quick cooking oats in these recipes! 

Coconut Milk: https://www.walmart.com/ip/embe-Organic-Coconut-Milk-Dairy-free/230393303

Greek Yogurt: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Stonyfield-Organic-Greek-Plain-Nonfat-Yogurt-32-oz-Tub/39670537
*We use Publix brand but linking Walmart

Chia Seeds: https://amzn.to/3ze0Tdj

Strawberry Jam: https://amzn.to/3iuf9rJ

Peanut butter: https://amzn.to/3Bj5XPC

*I have NEVER liked peanut butter but this brand, I will eat! Because it’s only made with peanuts and nothing else added to it, it taste so much better to me! And YES… it is separated when you buy it.😩 I’ll tell you the trick here… Go to walmart or the dollar store and by a hand mixer (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-5-Speed-Corded-Hand-Mixer-Black/308769099) Take the beaters off and add one to your husbands drill, yes for real!!!! Then SLOWLY mix the PB. I like to do this in the sink! It will mix it up and it won’t ever separate again plus it will be nice and whipped not chunky and hard! I actually have Blake do 2-3 at a time and stick them in the fridge! Takes 15 seconds per jar and you’ll have the best PB in town!